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CNN — The Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against 47 people accused of stealing $250 million from a federal program designed to provide meals for needy children during the pandemic. According to the department, the scheme is the largest Covid-19-related fraud uncovered by investigators to date. The defendants are facing a range of charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and paying and receiving illegal kickbacks. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/politics/doj-minnesota-covid-fraud-scheme-feeding-our-future/index.html

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WASHINGTON — Rep. Liz Cheney launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump and his allies Monday, accusing Republican leaders of treating the former president like a “king” by defending him at every turn in a federal investigation into classified documents stored at his Florida estate. “Those who are protecting Donald Trump — elected leaders of my party — are now willing to condemn FBI agents, Department of Justice officials, and pretend that taking top-secret SCI documents and keeping them in a desk drawer in an office in Mar-a-Lago, or in an unsecured location anywhere, was somehow not a problem. They are attempting to excuse this behavior,” Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. (SCI is short for “sensitive compartmented information.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/cheney-says-gop-leaders-treating-032752666.html

A bus with migrants sent to Martha's Vineyard, the upscale vacation island off Massachusetts, by Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Sept. 16, 2022. (Matt Cosby/The New York Times) When Lever Alejos of Venezuela arrived at the southern border penniless in July, he gladly accepted a free bus ride to Washington, D.C., courtesy of the state of Texas. He had no family or friends to receive him, and spent one night in the plaza across from Union Station. He soon settled into a homeless shelter. “I have nothing,” Alejos, 29, said on his third day in the city, “but I have the will to work and succeed.” Two months later, Alejos is making between $600 to $700 a week, saving up to buy a used car and planning to move out of the shelter. https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-sent-him-washington-one-183737372.html

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WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, his most explicit statement on the issue, drawing an angry response from China that said it sent the wrong signal to those seeking an independent Taiwan. Asked in a CBS 60 Minutes interview broadcast on Sunday whether U.S. forces would defend the democratically governed island claimed by China, he replied: "Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack." Asked to clarify if he meant that unlike in Ukraine, U.S. forces - American men and women - would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden replied: "Yes." https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-says-us-forces-would-defend-taiwan-event-chinese-invasion-2022-09-18/

US Customs and Border Protection encounters along the US-Mexico border have already topped 2 million so far this fiscal year, according to newly released agency data, with migration from countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba driving numbers up. In August, migrant encounters jumped to 203,598 along the US southern border, data shows. Of those, 22% involved people who crossed more than once. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/politics/border-encounters-top-2-million-fiscal-year/index.html

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File photo A killer who fatally shot three people in a high school prayer circle in Paducah, Kentucky, a quarter-century ago will make his case for freedom Tuesday. Michael Carneal’s public defender is asking the Kentucky Parole Board to keep in mind that Carneal was only 14 years old at the time, and that he was suffering from undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia as he was grappling with bullying and the transition from middle to high school. Carneal, now 39, “has committed himself to his mental health treatment, to participating in available educational and vocational programs, and to being a helpful and positive person within the prison,” attorney Alana Meyer wrote this month. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/us/paducah-kentucky-michael-carneal-parole/index.html

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday that the current migrant situation is a “humanitarian crisis created by human hands” that requires “an all-hands-on-deck moment” of coordination by the US. “We should be clear that this is, as I’ve stated, a humanitarian crisis created by human hands. And it is an all-hands-on-deck moment. When we’re all supposed to come together and coordinate. Coordination during a crisis is something that we must do together. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/18/politics/eric-adams-migrant-crisis-cnntv/index.html

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have directly rebuffed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that now is not the time for war. In what was the latest in a series of setbacks for the Russian leader, Modi told him of the need to “move onto a path of peace” and reminded him of the importance of “democracy, diplomacy and dialogue”. The comments from Modi came during a face-to-face meeting on Friday, on the sidelines of a regional summit, and highlighted Russia’s increasing isolation on the diplomatic stage. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/17/world/modi-putin-russia-ukraine-war-rebuke-intl-hnk/index.html

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Calls are growing in South Africa for Britain's royal family to return the world's largest known clear-cut diamond in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death. Known as the Great Star of Africa or Cullinan I, the diamond is cut from a larger gem that was mined in South Africa in 1905 and handed over to the British royal family by South Africa's colonial authorities. It is currently mounted on a royal scepter belonging to the Queen. Demands for the return of the Great Star of Africa and other diamonds -- along with calls for repatriations -- have intensified since the Queen's death. https://www.cnn.com/style/article/great-star-of-africa-diamond-intl-lgs/index.html

Hungary can “no longer be considered a full democracy,” the European Parliament said in a statement following its adoption of a report on Thursday. The Parliament said the situation has “deteriorated such that Hungary has become an ‘electoral autocracy.’” “Overall, [The European Parliament] expresses regrets that the lack of decisive EU action has contributed to a breakdown of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, and turning one of its member states into hybrid regime of electoral autocracy,” the report read. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/world/hungary-democracy-eu-parliament-intl/index.html

Teen who killed her alleged rapist ordered to pay his family $150,000 CNN — An Iowa judge’s ruling this week ordering a teenage girl – who was 15 when she killed a man she said raped her multiple times – to pay his family $150,000 in restitution has reignited conversations about what justice looks like for girls and young women who have experienced sexual violence. Pieper Lewis, who killed her alleged rapist in 2020, received a deferred judgment from Polk County District Judge David Porter after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury. Lewis is just one of several teenagers – often of color – who have been legally penalized or convicted of killing their sex trafficker or assaulter in recent years in the US. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/15/us/pieper-lewis-sex-trafficking-other-cases-reaj/index.html

CNN -- Russia’s military failures in its war with Ukraine are stirring new opposition to President Vladimir Putin, according to two local politicians who are taking a stand against him. The lack of a quick victory, the inability to take Kyiv and now the successful counter-offensives by Ukraine while Russia has lost so many troops and so much equipment has generated anger and discontent that Putin’s opponents are trying to harness. “There is a point where both liberal groups of people and pro-war groups of people can have the same goal. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/europe/russia-putin-local-councilors-intl/index.html